In perhaps another sign that summer is drawing to a close and the heavy August flow of cruise ships into New York is set to abate, the dredgers were back at work at Pier 88 Thursday.

A smaller cruise ship did arrive Thursday morning, however. With Pier 88 out of action, the Seven Seas Navigator tied up on the north side of Pier 90. The Navigator was built inside the hull of a former Soviet navy ship and launched in 1991. She returned to New York after a three month circuit running through Nova Scotia, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, the Nordic region, and then finishing up in Spain and Portugal before heading back to New York. Tomorrow she heads for Montreal.

Lastly, it would not do to ignore the passing of Queen Elizabeth II today, and in memoriam once again share a picture of the old Cunard QE2 leaving Pier 88 back in the mid-1980s with help from Margaret Moran